If Nothing Else, MALDEF's Very Happy With the Federal Court's New State Redistricting Map

About a month ago we noted that the Department of Justice was very unhappy with how state legislators redrew Texas's congressional districts -- something to do with how the new map "actually reduced minority electoral power" in Dallas-Fort Worth, for starters. Hence the ongoing litigation in San Antonio and D.C. Now, to the mix, add this twist: The federal courts have proposed an interim solution that FOX News says "could favor Democrats." Dunh dunh dunh.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott tried to head this off at the pass last week, filing in San Antone this objection that insisted, "A federal court lacks constitutional authority to interfere with the expressed will of the State Legislature unless it is compelled to remedy a specific, identifiable violation of law." To which the court responded with this map. To which Thomas Saenz, MALDEF's president and general counsel, responds via an email that just landed in the Unfair Park inbox:

Today's court-ordered congressional redistricting plan ... creates a congressional district in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (CD 33) that contains a plurality of Latino population and is likely to grow into a Latino opportunity district over the next decade. At trial, MALDEF argued that the over 1 million Latinos in the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex area should have the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.

Update at 5:26 p.m.: This just in from State Rep. Eric Johnson, who says:

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"I'm very excited that I will have the opportunity to represent so many new constituents, although I will miss the ones I am losing greatly," said Johnson. "They should know, however, that they will always have a friend in the Texas House as long as I'm there."

The new District 100 includes Arlington Park, the Medical District, the Design District, parts of West Dallas, Oak Lawn, and Oak Cliff as well as the Cedars, South Dallas and Pleasant Grove.

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